


i'm coming after you

by brionyjae



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, DCCW Rarepair Swap, Earth-2, Earth-2 AU, Everybody Is from Earth-2, F/F, Fluff, side married!Thallen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 05:34:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11616972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brionyjae/pseuds/brionyjae
Summary: There's a new meta-human criminal in town, Dr Light, and Detective Iris West is tasked with tracking her down. If only she could stop getting distracted by a certain cute reporter, Linda Park...The Parkwest Earth-2 AU that begged to exist!Written for Quickest for the DCCW Rarepair Swap :)





	i'm coming after you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pixiisms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixiisms/gifts).



> Written for the DCCW Rarepair Swap for [scarletspeedshits](https://scarletspeedshits.tumblr.com/) :) I am SO SORRY that this is almost a month late!! Life has been kicking my arse, and I'm too much of a perfectionist, apparently. Also, this fic was originally meant to only be like 3k... hopefully the length makes up for the wait ;)
> 
> Title is taken from Owl City's "I'm Coming After You", which sums up this fic perfectly!
> 
> Enjoy xx

* * *

Ever since the particle accelerator at S.T.A.R. Labs had exploded, the increasing number of meta-humans-turned-criminals had been a constant thorn in the side of Detective Iris West.

The worst thing about them wasn't the immense damage they caused, or the amount of money it cost to repair that damage. It wasn't even the extreme danger they posed to innocent civilians (which, for the record, was pretty fucking extreme).

No. The worst thing about meta-humans who decided to pursue a life of crime was: the press conferences.

The damn reporters wanted to know every single thing about these meta-humans, like what their powers were, and who they used to be pre-explosion. Their overly detailed questions seemed to be designed to make the CCPD look like total idiots, because how the hell could Iris know exactly how much radiation Atom Smasher could absorb before hitting his limit? How could _anyone_ know that without actually killing him?

And that was another thing - the media insisted on giving every single meta-human criminal some ridiculous nickname. Sure, Killer Frost and Deathstorm were pretty catchy, but Sand Demon? Geomancer? Please.

Thank god Iris had given up that internship for CCPN - she couldn't imagine a universe in which she'd rather be a reporter than a detective.

"Thank you for joining us for this morning's press conference," said CCPD's Captain Mendez, not quite his usual perky self - probably hadn't had his daily dose of coffee yet. "As you're all aware, yesterday at 4:03pm there was a robbery at Gold City Bank, where approximately $5,000 was stolen, and two civilians were moderately injured. The perpetrator was a female meta-human, and unfortunately escaped before we arrived at the scene. Detectives West and Lawton -" Mendez waved a quick hand at them both, "- are running the investigation. Our forensics team have been examining the scene, and we are following up leads to try and locate her. Any questions?"

A dozen hands shot into the air. Iris cleared her throat, and shared a glance with Lawton, her partner at the CCPD. He was readjusting his microphone nervously, and she barely resisted rolling her eyes. Looked like it'd be up to her, as usual.

"Morning, Snapper! What would you like to know?" Mendez addressed one of the veteran reporters by name.

"Morning, Captain. Can you provide more information about this meta-human's powers, and how they work?"

"Our forensics team have confirmed that her powers are a form of photokinesis," Iris said. "CSI Patty Spivot believes she derives her powers from starlight."

"Starlight? How's she figure that?" Snapper was frowning - although, that was his go-to expression. Iris looked down at her notes.

"The scorch marks around the entrance were made by heat sources of around 5300 degrees Kelvin, which is the temperature of a star."

"Erik Larkin, CCPN. Any idea who she is under the mask?" barked another reporter.

"Her identity isn't currently known," Iris said, keeping her tone assertive. "We're going through CCTV footage and databases to try and ID her."

A few reporters started talking at the same time, and Captain Mendez cleared his throat into his microphone pointedly, raising an eyebrow.

"Bridges, go ahead," Mendez said.

"Can you confirm that the Flash was present at the crime scene?" asked Mason Bridges. There was a hint of snark to his tone.

"...the Flash did arrive during the robbery," Iris said carefully, slowly. "However, she suffered retina damage from the high luminosity light beams, and was unable to capture our meta-human."

"Given the large number of meta-human criminals currently on the loose, was a CCPD blunder the reason this master of light escaped?" a lady with glasses and a notebook asked loudly.

There was a short and quiet hush, before basically every reporter began talking at once. To make matters worse, Lawton chose that moment to knock his glass of water into his lap, and leapt up with a yelp. This time, Iris did roll her eyes, but she doubted any of the reporters noticed, seeing as they were occupied with shouting criticism. Lawton rushed out of the foyer - to his credit, he did send Iris an extremely apologetic look over his shoulder.

Mendez was trying his best to regain order, but Iris could tell it was a lost cause. Sighing, she idly scanned the crowd of reporters - and something strange stood out. There was one reporter who wasn't hurling abuse at her and Mendez. She had short, wavy hair, and was wearing an excellent leather jacket, along with matching leather gloves - which Iris mainly noticed because the reporter was holding one gloved hand in the air, patiently waiting to be called on - and she was _staring straight at Iris_.

Iris's heart beat faster for a few seconds. Then she found herself ducking her head to speak into the microphone.

"Yes, Miss...?"

The room grew quiet again, and everyone, Mendez included, swivelled their heads to look at the reporter.

"Linda Park." One side of her mouth briefly quirked up. "Just wondering if I could get your opinion on something, Detective West. What do you think about the name... Dr Light?"

A startled pause. Iris surprised herself by laughing.

"It's... not bad, actually. You should pick all the nicknames from now on."

Iris was rewarded with a proper smile from Linda. The crowd of reporters started grumbling amongst themselves, and Iris stood, signalling that the press conference was over. She felt Linda's gaze follow her all the way to the exit.

Okay, so. Maybe not _every_ reporter was terrible.

* * *

Iris was debriefing with Patty that afternoon when she felt those eyes on her again. She looked up from Patty's case notes.

"...Linda, right?" As if she couldn't remember. "Can I ask what you're doing here?"

Linda took that as an invitation to walk over to Iris's desk. Sharing a quick glance with Patty, Iris neatly slid the Dr Light files - damn that catchy nickname - underneath some older paperwork.

"Can we talk for a minute? I have some scientific questions about Dr Light's abilities for my article, and I'd love to have the actual data, rather than just making random shit up. Which apparently some reporters do when it comes to meta-humans," Linda pulled a face. Iris tried not to stare at her perfectly shaped eyebrows.

"Really? That's great!" Patty responded with her trademark enthusiasm and grin. "I'm sure my CSI report will have everything you need to know -"

"Thanks, Patty, I'll take it from here."

Patty's eyes widened a bit, but she nodded. She sent Iris a pointed look from behind Linda's back, and Iris knew they would be discussing this later. Yay.

"So." Iris's voice was steady, not giving anything away. "What do you want to know?"

Linda sat down in the chair on the other side of Iris's desk, maintaining a professional distance. She chewed her bottom lip, and rolled her pen between her gloved fingers.

"The two civilians that were hurt... what kind of injuries did they suffer?"

"They both had retina damage, like the Flash."

"Is their blindness permanent?"

Iris couldn't stop a niggling feeling that Linda's questions were important somehow, that she was asking them for a specific reason.

Also.

Damn, Linda's eyes were hard to look away from.

"No... just temporary. Though the doctors at Central City Hospital told me that if the light had been any stronger, it might've been a different story."

"...right. And - the Flash? I mean - " Linda paused, and finally looked down at her notebook. "I don't mean to presume, but everyone kinda knows that you work with the Flash sometimes."

"I..." Iris sighed, and rubbed her knuckles over her forehead.  "The Flash had worse retina damage than the civilians, but due to her meta-human abilities, her sight has already returned. Just - " Iris resisted the impulse to reach out and loop her fingers around Linda's wrist. Which was a really weird impulse to be having. "Don't say that I was the one who told you that, or next time I won't be so forthcoming with exclusive information."

That slow smile curled over Linda's lips again.

"There's going to be a next time?"

Iris opened her mouth to respond, a hundred words contending with each other, with the result being an inelegant silence. Linda stood up.

"Good to know," she added lightly, and swept out of the CCPD.

* * *

The Dr Light case kept Iris busy working for the next week or so. Patty brought CSI Barry Allen onboard, which was always fun, since Iris and Barry had been best friends since college. This also meant that Barry's husband, Detective Eddie Thawne, was roped into the case, since they worked on literally _everything_ together. They made an epic team, Iris had to admit. Besides, Lawton left a lot to be desired as a partner, and Iris would gladly take all the help she could get.

So, Iris was going about her business, like normal. Except... Linda freaking Park kept popping up _everywhere_.

Seriously. She saw her at the bank, in the queue for coffee at Jitters, even at the tiny convenience store down the road from her apartment. And then there was that strange moment at the Big Belly Burger across the street from the station, where she could have sworn she'd seen Linda practically disappear into thin air. (And yes, Iris was Better than eating a greasy takeaway dinner at her desk at work, but... pfft, Iris worked out at the Police gym almost every day, she deserved this.)

Every time she saw Linda, Iris did _not_ document her outfit, how she was wearing her hair, whether she looked happy or sad. Because that would be ridiculous. It was just - second nature to her, to observe, and detect, and - whatever.

The two times she'd driven the long way to work in order to go past the CCPN were completely irrelevant.

All wispy thoughts of Linda were driven from her  mind one afternoon, though, when an alert came through the CCPD's computers.

"We're receiving an emergency break-in call from a residential address in Inglewood, two civilians inside. Descriptions of the thief match Dr Light," Officer Doyle told Iris. She was already double checking her firearm to make sure it was fully loaded.

"Look alive, Lawton! It's time to catch our girl."

Lawton scrambled up from his desk, narrowly avoiding tripping over his chair leg.

"I'm right behind you, West!" he stammered.

Iris's well-oiled aggressive driving meant they arrived in under three minutes - and thank god, it looked like Dr Light was still there, judging by the erratic flashing of light through the windows.

"CCPD!" Iris shouted as she ran into the house, Lawton thundering along beside her. They spilled into the living room, where a man and woman were cowering against a wall. Iris swivelled her shotgun around, and pointed it directly at the meta-human in front of her.

"You two, get out of here! Dr Light, you are under arrest."

A powerful beam of light carved a path in front of the two residents, forcing them back against the wall.

"Not so fast," Dr Light said, her voice distorted and reverberating around the room. "Detective West! I was hoping you'd come. So nice to make your acquaintance."

Iris had seen the CCTV footage from the Gold City Bank theft, but it hadn't prepared her for the actual sight of Dr Light. She wore what looked like an modified helmet over the top half of her face, so that all Iris could see were Dr Light's purple painted lips. She wore a long, black coat, white boots, and black gloves that were glowing with light.

"Wish I could say the same," Iris growled, her finger steady over the trigger. "How about you let these innocent people go, and then you and I can talk some more."

Dr Light laughed, and it echoed around the walls. Lawton was shuffling nervously at Iris's side.

"These guys, innocent? Oh, honey."

Oh, _okay_. So that was how Dr Light was gonna play it? Iris took aim at Dr Light's helmet, but the meta-human ducked. A burst of light struck the opposite wall, and Iris now noticed that a safe was installed there - or, used to be, because Dr Light had just obliterated the lock, and the door crashed to the floor. Lawton rushed over to the civilians, and covered them as they ran for the front door. Dr Light was charging over to the safe, but as Iris aimed her gun for a second time, the meta-human raised a palm at her.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Dr Light warned. Iris grit her teeth, and shot anyway. She missed, thanks to Dr Light's quick reflexes, and then had to leap behind an armchair as the meta-human returned fire. As she tried to get a clear shot from behind the piece of furniture, Dr Light reached the safe, and grabbed something from inside.

"I'll see you around," Dr Light's robotic voice said, and Iris had just enough time to shield her eyes before she vanished in an explosion of light.

* * *

The two residents, Mr and Mrs Hawthorne, weren't injured, but were incredibly shaken. Iris managed to persuade Lawton to take their witness statements, since he _did_ owe her for running out on their last press conference. It was going to be another late night, going through all possible leads - yeah, Iris needed caffeine. Since a coffee-filled IV drip wasn't an option, she sneaked out of the station to stop by Jitters. The sky was starting to turn a deep, navy blue, and the street lights were blinking into life.

She was waiting in line, staring absently at the menu while sorting through potential contacts in her head, when a voice behind her made her jump.

"Hello, Detective West."

Iris whirled around, fingers itching towards her holster. Of course. It was Linda.

"Are you actually stalking me?" she blurted out. Linda raised her eyebrows, but smiled when she realised Iris wasn't angry. More like embarrassed as fuck.

"I guess we just work in the same areas," Linda shrugged. "Hey... are you okay?"

"...fantastic," Iris sighed.

"It's just, I heard that you got caught up with the Dr Light theft today. You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"Only a little bruised from diving behind an armchair," Iris replied dryly. "I've had worse from a day in the office, to be honest."

"That's good," Linda smiled. "I mean, _not good_ , obviously, but... good."

They stared at each other for a fraction too long, so that the moment strayed into awkward territory, and they both quickly looked away. Iris couldn't quite wipe the smile off her face.

They reached the front of the queue, and Iris ordered a triple shot latte, with extra cream. Linda requested a hazelnut and white chocolate frappe with sprinkles. Because _of course she did_. And then, before Iris even had a chance to stop her, Linda paid for both of their drinks.

Without actually discussing it, Iris and Linda took their drinks to one of the tables, and sat across from each other. Oh god. This wasn't... like, an impromptu date, was it? Iris felt like whacking herself over the head as soon as she thought it. There was no way - they'd barely spoken to each other before now. They hardly _knew_ each other. Linda was just being nice, that's all. Probably buttering her up, building a media-police relationship. A _working_ relationship.

That's all.

And anyway, Iris really should get back to the station... but, then again, she could probably be absent for ten more minutes before Lawton needed a new job to do.

"So I bet the reason you're _really_ here is to get more exclusive info about this afternoon," Iris said, half-seriously, determined to keep her mind away from any dangerous topics. Otherwise she might accidentally say something about how pretty Linda's hair was today - perfectly straightened - and that would be awkward.

"You caught me," Linda winked, then laughed and shook her head. Iris involuntarily watched Linda's hair float over her shoulders as she raised her frappe to her lips. She was wearing gloves again, a light brown leather this time, and they complimented her eyes. "No, actually, I've already written my article on that. I'm now writing a story about an anonymous donation of $20,000 made to the Central City Memorial Hospital this afternoon."

"Wow," Iris whistled. "Anonymous?"

"Yep. Guess they didn't want all the attention." Linda looked up at Iris from underneath her eyelashes. "It'd be a pretty cool thing to do, right?"

"Totally," Iris agreed, taking a much needed gulp of coffee. "Not that I've ever had that much money to spare."

"You never know what's around the corner."

Iris snorted lightly at the sincere, yet playful glint in Linda's eyes.

"Sure. If you say so."

By the time Iris made it back to the CCPD, Lawton had rung her three times.

"Where have you been?" he asked as soon as she stepped out of the elevators. "I was worried!"

"Sorry," Iris had the grace to wince. "What'd you find out from the Hawthornes?"

"Not much," Lawton reported, bumping into a nearby chair as they marched towards Iris's desk. "They were at home, when they heard their front door crash open, and Dr Light burst in on them. Mr Hawthorne was able to get to one of his panic buttons. Oh, yeah!" Lawton exclaimed. "Almost forgot. Apparently Dr Light took $20,000 from their safe."

"$20,000," Iris repeated slowly.

"But here's the interesting bit! They also had some expensive jewellery and a stockpile of foreign cash, but she didn't touch any of it."

Iris frowned.

"Could be a coincidence..."

"Maybe she just didn't see it?"

Somehow, though, Iris knew that wasn't it. But what _was_ it?

* * *

Over the next couple of weeks, Dr Light struck four more times. Three of them were residential break-ins, just like what happened to the Hawthornes, where Dr Light respectively stole a $100,000 painting, another $50,000, and a box of jewellery worth a shocking half a million dollars. There was something odd about the thefts - they were specific, targeted... except Iris couldn't work out why.

The fourth attack was different again. Dr Light showed up at a local dance club, and basically set fire to the place with her beams of light. The club suffered insurmountable damage - and one guy was even stabbed in the left shoulder with something that allegedly resembled a light saber. _That_ threw a spanner in the works; apart from the first theft at Gold City Bank, Dr Light hadn't injured anyone else. Until now. And it was a pretty severe injury, Iris had seen the hospital report. The Flash had arrived just after the guy went down, and by the time she'd sped him to the hospital, Dr Light had fled.

With all the craziness of the case, the only thing currently keeping Iris sane... was Linda.

Linda had worked on all of the Dr Light stories for the CCPN, so Iris had seen her at every press conference. Captain Mendez was probably beginning to wonder why she always gave the last question to Linda. They'd bumped into each other a couple more times at Jitters, and naturally had coffee together too - besides, Iris owed Linda for paying the first time.

It was like they were... _almost_ dating. Linda hadn't made a move, and Iris was admittedly rusty at dating - she'd been married to her job for longer than she cared to think about. But... there was something there, between them, some spark that Iris wished she could turn into a flame.

"Ugh!" she groaned, and let her head fall onto her desk with a thud.

"Don't do that! We need that brain of yours intact, please," Barry's voice came from somewhere above her.

"I also wouldn't trust the strength of that desk," Eddie's voice advised. "Lawton put it together."

"It's worked fine so far," mumbled Iris against the wood.

"Um, so, speaking of work," Barry started. "You are planning on heading home soon to get ready, right?"

"...get ready for what?"

"...uh, you know, the CCPD fundraiser? At Town Hall?"

Fuck.

Iris whipped her head up, and looked hopelessly at Barry and Eddie.

"You forgot." Eddie shook his head in mock exasperation.

...yeah, she'd totally forgotten. There was no way of getting out of it, either; the annual CCPD fundraiser evening was one of the few events that Mendez insisted on the department's full attendance.

"I might be a little late," she sent an impish grin up at them.

"We'll see you there." Eddie threaded his fingers through Barry's, and brought his knuckles to his lips. "Come on babe, let's go make ourselves look pretty."

"Like either of you need to do anything to look pretty," Iris grumbled down at her paperwork.

The CCPD fundraiser was a fancy, formal evening, with plenty of schmoozing, champagne, and rich donors. It was the CCPD's job to try and raise as much money as possible, which was then distributed to various charities in the city. If it wasn't such a good cause, Iris wouldn't be going, no matter what Mendez said - she hated having to play nice with those snobby, fake donors. Sure, they had a lot of money, but it didn't mean they were good people. They flaunted their money, and their names.

Not like those two anonymous donations that Linda had written about recently. In addition to the  $20,000 donation to the Central City Memorial Hospital, there had been a $10,000 donation to Central City Zoo. Both anonymous. It was awesome, obviously, but also kind of odd that there'd been two so close together.

Actually. It was also odd that the donation amounts matched two of Dr Light's cash thefts. But surely that was just a coincidence?

The thing was though... Iris had learnt not to believe in coincidences.

Opening a new tab on her computer, Iris typed "Hawthorne $20,000 Central City Memorial Hospital" into the browser's search box. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for. The first few results didn't have Hawthorne's name mentioned - only talked about the anonymous donation - but Iris scrolled down, to older news articles from a couple of years ago.

One headline caught her eye.

**Central City Memorial Hospital ordered to pay $20,000 in compensation.**

Iris scanned through the article. Apparently some sort of experimental hospital trial had gone wrong, and the patient had sued the hospital for resulting damages and alleged employee negligence. From what Iris could tell, though, the patient had known the risks prior to surgery, and so really shouldn't have won the case - and yet, somehow, they did win, and got $20,000 out of it. Iris reached the end of the webpage, and a name jumped out at her - the person who'd sued the hospital. She must've missed it earlier in the article.

It was Ben Hawthorne.

Suddenly, Iris was opening new tabs, and typing furiously. Her next search confirmed her burgeoning suspicion - last year, Laura Bauer had been charged with illegal animal trafficking, but her lawyer had somehow wrangled her release from custody, all charges dropped. At the time, it was speculated that she'd sold various rare species to a total of $50,000.

The $100,000 painting stolen from Albert Davis? It was on public record that the painting in question was actually purchased by Gloria Davis, his wife. They'd divorced eight months ago, and somehow, the court had awarded Albert Davis custody of the painting. Iris was willing to bet that Gloria Davis had just received an unexpected, anonymous gift.

The box of jewellery was a bit harder to work out. After a minute of searching Iris stumbled across a link to the Central City Museum, where a historically significant locket had just been donated - yep, anonymously. Another search result revealed that same locket being bequeathed to the museum by the late Edna Whicker three years ago - a request which her son, Brandon Whicker, clearly hadn't honoured.

Iris sat there, staring at her laptop in disbelief.

It looked like Dr Light was a bit of a Robin Hood. A 'moral' thief - stealing to right other people's wrongs.

Before Iris could digest this bizarre but compelling conclusion, a sudden noise made her elbow slip off the desk into her lap. She quickly slammed her laptop lid shut.

"Oh, thank god, I'm not that last to leave after all," Patty said, frantically tugging her coat on. "Are you coming? We're going to be so late - Mendez will freak!"

Iris tried to wipe her expression clean, but unsurprisingly, Patty narrowed her eyes.

"What's up? You look... strange."

"I'm fine," Iris said, assembling her lips into a wide smile.

"Is it something to do with the Dr Light case?" Patty asked, taking an eager step towards Iris's desk.

"I..." Iris let out a long breath. "I think so. Not sure yet. Just need to... follow up on a hunch, I guess."

Patty nodded thoughtfully. She was probably used to Iris being vague about information that wasn't wholly concrete yet.

"Tell me later? We seriously need to get going."

* * *

Both Patty and Iris ended up arriving late, although at least they were each wearing outfits that passed as formalwear. Because of the dress she had hurriedly grabbed from her closet, Iris had had to swap her usual gun holster for one that fit around her thigh, but it was better than not being armed at all. It wasn't that Iris was expecting trouble at the fundraiser... but some part of her _always_ expected trouble.

Half an hour in, and Iris was ready to either fake a migraine, or start drinking twice as much champagne. Unfortunately, neither of those options would go down well with Mendez. So far, she'd pretended to be interested enough to listen to Lester Buchinsky, a high profile investor; Jeremy Koorng, a key shareholder in Central City National Bank, and Nick Major, the owner of the biggest law firm in Central City.

The only thing worse than having to sweet-talk arrogant businessmen, though, was dancing with Lawton. She didn't want to risk breaking her toe with his awful coordination. Iris saw him making a beeline for her, and dodged behind the nearest waiter to sneak over to the bar. She was so busy trying to hide from Lawton that she didn't notice who was sitting on the bar stool next to her until she'd already ordered a scotch.

"This is amazing, I totally had you pegged as a scotch drinker."

"Linda!" Iris whirled around, and was met with sparkling eyes and smiling lips, which were a striking shade of purple. "I didn't know you'd be here."

"Media pass," Linda said with exaggerated superiority, tilting her glass towards Iris. "Perks of being a reporter, or something."

"I'm glad there's one person here that I actually want to talk to."

Linda blinked, her mouth hanging open slightly, and Iris mentally high fived herself for actually rendering Linda speechless for once. Iris just hoped that the soft lighting wouldn't reveal her own rapidly warming cheeks.

"I wouldn't mind being your +1," Linda finally said, her gaze fixed on Iris's face. Iris took a burning gulp of scotch to distract herself.

The following half hour was infinitely more enjoyable than the first had been. Iris and Linda mercilessly mocked each rich guest that walked past, and commandeered one of the waiter's hors d'oeuvre platters. Iris maintained that it was Linda's batting eyelashes that had convinced him, but Linda insisted that it was Iris's dazzling, sunny smile.

Barry, Eddie and Patty all conveniently stopped to chat when they noticed Iris and Linda hoarding good food. Barry and Eddie were every inch the gorgeous power couple, and didn't let go of each other's hands for a second. Patty was giving Iris repeated, pointed looks, and kept angling her head over at Linda in an attempt at telepathic communication. Iris knew that Patty was trying to figure out what was going on between her and Linda, but as Iris herself didn't know the answer to that question, she kept blithely smiling at Patty, until the CSI gave Iris one of her patented 'We Will Discuss This Later' looks.

"Your friends are nice," Linda said casually once they'd moved on, downing the last of her current drink.

"They certainly make work less stressful," Iris agreed. She scanned the room, and almost choked when she saw Mendez glaring at her. So he'd probably detected that she hadn't chatted up any donors recently. "Speaking of stressful, my boss is giving me the stink eye."

Linda looked over at Mendez, and she grinned slyly.

"So let's keep him happy. Dance with me."

"Wh-what?" Iris asked, not at all suddenly breathless.

"Well, then it looks like you're doing something useful," Linda said sensibly. The mischievous shine to her eyes only marginally detracted from this argument.

"...why not."

Linda's scheming grin softened a bit, and damn it, something was fluttering in Iris's chest as Linda took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor.

A live piano player was providing all of the music for the evening - and, just Iris's luck, a slower song was currently conducting the dancers. Iris swallowed thickly as Linda's hands settled on her waist. Looping her arms around Linda's neck, Iris tried her best to keep a measured distance between them.

"You look lovely, by the way," Linda said, as if the comment had been rolling around her brain all night. Iris cleared her throat, and smiled. She couldn't stop her gaze getting stuck on Linda's lips.

"Thanks. You - you too."

And it was true. Linda was wearing a black dress that almost fell to the floor, but a pair of white ankle boots peeked out from under the hem. The hands on Iris's waist were covered with matching white lace gloves. For a crazy second, Iris wished that Linda wasn't wearing gloves, so that she could feel the warmth of Linda's fingers better.

"So, I have a confession," Linda murmured. Her cheek brushed against Iris's as she reduced the distance between them.

"And what's that?" Iris said, proud that her voice was mostly steady.

"...I have kind of been stalking you, just a little bit," Linda breathed out a laugh in Iris's ear. "But not in a creepy way, I promise."

Iris snorted lightly.

"Any form of stalking is creepy. Trust me, I'm a Detective."

Linda's next words were whispered so quietly that Iris almost didn't catch them.

"Is it creepy if I was trying to find a way to ask you out on a date?"

The musician chose that precise moment to finish the song, and applause filled Iris's ears. She wrenched her head backwards, and stared into Linda's eyes. Was she saying what Iris thought she was saying? Captain Mendez was walking onto the main stage now, talking into the microphone, but Iris couldn't concentrate on anything but Linda.

"Are you saying - do you want to go on a date? With me?" This time her voice was decidedly shaky - actually, she was feeling kind of tingly all over.

One corner of Linda's mouth inched upwards, and she started to say something in reply - but then her attention was stolen by something over Iris's shoulder - more applause, one of the donors was being asked onto the stage - but, seriously, fuck the fundraiser, for once in her life there was something more important than work, more important than _anything_ -

"I'm sorry, I have to go," Linda said, ducking under Iris's arms. She looked torn, like she didn't want to leave - but then, why the hell _was_ she leaving? "I'm sorry. I'll - sorry."

Iris's brain caught up, and she reached out to Linda.

"Linda, wait - where are you going?"

But Linda had turned and dissolved into the crowd. Iris made to follow, but Patty appeared out of nowhere and physically turned her around to face the front of the room.

"Mendez is glaring at you again," she hissed. Iris swallowed down the hurt, the burning ache that was rising in her throat, and raised her eyes to the stage, ignoring the way that her vision was blurring around the edges.

"Thank you, Nick Major, for joining me on stage," Mendez was saying. "Your generosity tonight deserves an extra special thanks - you are officially the biggest donor of the evening!"

More applause.

"No, no, thank _you_ , Captain Mendez," Major spoke into the microphone, his voice dripping with false modesty. "It's the least I can do, to give back to the good people of Central City."

The crowd tittered with approval - and then, cutting through that was a humming, an electrical buzzing, and there was a flash of white light. Abruptly, one of the chandeliers exploded. Screams echoed through the room, but they weren't quite loud enough to drown out the words of the meta-human that had joined Captain Mendez and Nick Major on stage, and was currently shouting into a microphone.

"You, give back to the 'good people' of Central City?! You make it sound so noble."

Several of the many, _many_ officers from the CCPD already had their guns trained on Dr Light, as did the event's security detail, but since she was standing so close to Mendez and Major, they seemed unwilling to fire. Iris shared a glance with Patty, and they both retrieved their shotguns from their hidden holsters.

"How about I enlighten - ha, get it? - everyone with the truth?"

Dr Light began a lazy strut along the stage, edging closer and closer to Mendez and Major. Iris was 110% sure that Mendez was carrying his gun, but between wanting to protect Major as a civilian, and not tempt Dr Light into attacking, he didn't have many options. Iris craned her neck and spotted the door to the backstage area, only a few metres away. If she kept her head down, she should be able to make it, and try and stop Dr Light from there.

"Patty, cover me," she whispered, and took off before Patty could try and change her mind. Dr Light continued her speech, her words bouncing around the walls of the Town Hall.

"The reason you make so much money, _Major_ , is because you lie and cheat and steal and blackmail and extort your clients. You don't care about fighting for what's right! You only care about making money. Then, to ease your guilty conscience, you donate a tiny percentage of your fortune to charity."

Dr Light paused, and the silence in the room was deafening. Iris weaved past the last few guests, and slipped through the door. The backstage area was dark, but she felt her way up a short flight of stairs, and there she was - Dr Light, only a handful of feet away. Iris stayed in the shadows, waiting for the right moment.

"That ends tonight," Dr Light pronounced, and then literally dropped the mic. Iris rolled her eyes (so dramatic) but, yes, she was also pretty impressed. Dr Light was kind of a badass. In an instant, though, Dr Light had blasted a beam of light at the floor in front of Major's feet, and Iris was less enthused about the level of her badass-ness. Mendez shoved himself in front of Major, but the scorching heat from Dr Light's - well, light - caused the curtain behind them to burst into flames.

"Hey! Leave them alone!" Iris yelled, surging up onto the stage and directing her gun straight at Dr Light's helmet. She half turned her head at Iris's words, trying to keep both ends of the stage in view at the same time.

"This has nothing to do with you, Detective West," Dr Light ground out. She fired another reckless ball of light towards Major, who was currently hugging Mendez around the waist and screaming at an even higher pitch than Lawton was capable of. Iris almost felt sorry for the bastard. In the background, Iris was aware that the Town Hall was being evacuated.

"You're breaking the law, I am the law - oh, look, there's my problem," Iris lifted an eyebrow. She took a challenging step towards Dr Light. "I was doing some research earlier this evening. I reckon I've got you all figured out."

"Oh, really?"

"Uh huh," Iris said lightly. She took another deliberate step forwards. If she tilted her head to the left, she could just make eye contact with Mendez, who nodded imperceptibly. "Everything you steal, you steal for a specific reason. You're trying to put things right, one theft at a time." Iris swallowed, doing her utmost to keep her tone casual, conversational. "You're a vigilante."

One of Dr Light's palms was still outstretched towards Mendez and Major, but she hesitated.

"Look, I get it, okay?" Iris continued. "You want to do something good with your powers. But believe me, this isn't the way to do it. I can help you."

Dr Light let out a laugh that might've had a hysterical edge to it.

"I wish that were true. But you don't understand - my powers - you have _no idea_."

"I can help you," Iris repeated, her voice softer, creeping nearer. Dr Light was definitely facing more towards Iris than Mendez and Major now, but they had to keep their cool - one false move -

"No one can help me," Dr Light said, so quietly that it was lucky Iris was close enough to hear it. She was also close enough to see a small, aching smile twist Dr Light's lips - her purple lips - the exact same shade of purple, in fact, that Iris had spent all night trying not to stare at...

Linda?

Before Iris could say her name out loud, Dr Light - _Linda??_ \- set those familiar lips into a hard line.

"I'm sorry," she got out, and she sounded as if she was tearing her own heart out. A searing white light flared out from the meta-human, and Iris's limbs were frozen, too shocked to move. She couldn't even close her eyes. The light filled her vision, penetrated her brain, and Iris dropped her gun. How could she possibly shoot her anyway, if there was a chance that Dr Light was - was -

\- she could hear a scuffle from the other end of the stage, Mendez was shouting, Major was whimpering, and then there was silence, save the endless wail of sirens from the street.

Iris blinked, but the light didn't dissipate. All she could see was white.

Iris was blind.

* * *

Okay, so she was temporarily blind. At least, that's what the doctor at Central City Hospital had told her. It had been over an hour, and Iris still couldn't see a damn thing.

"Dr Light got away, again," Eddie's voice said ruefully from beside her bed. (Yeah, she was lying in a damn hospital bed, like a fucking invalid. She was totally fine! Except, well, the obvious.) "And she took Nick Major's watch."

"His watch?" Iris asked. She thought she was frowning, but it was hard to tell. All her senses were out of whack.

"He finally admitted to Captain Mendez that it contains a flash-drive of all his... less than legal dealings. As well as his financial information. He's currently in lock-up," Barry explained, his voice coming from the same direction as Eddie's.

"I hate to say it, but we kind of owe Dr Light a favour for that one," Patty said. Iris snorted an extremely humourless snort. "Hey, Iris... what you said back there, on the stage... was that true?"

"I had a hunch," Iris sighed. "That's what I was doing before we left for the fundraiser. If I'm right... I don't even know what it means for our case."

"A criminal with morals," Barry mused. "I can actually see that."

"You see the best in everyone, love." Iris didn't need her sight to know that Eddie was currently kissing Barry, and she almost rolled her eyes out of habit.

"West!" someone burst into her hospital room, sounding out of breath. "I'm so sorry, I got held up at the station, Mendez is furious - he doesn't know how Dr Light got past security - are you okay? What'd the doctor say?"

It was Lawton.

"She's gonna be fine!" Patty said, far too cheerfully. "As soon as her both her retinas heal, that is."

"Any idea how long that'll take?" Iris said darkly. She really hated being stuck in this bed.

"I can go and find out!" Lawton offered eagerly. "That was really brave, what you did, West. I saw you headed back stage, and I would've been right behind you, but then everything started happening so fast -"

"I know. Thanks, Lawton," Iris said, at least 80% sincere. If there was one thing Lawton was, it was loyal. "You couldn't have stopped me from getting blinded, so don't worry -"

"Iris?" another voice said, far away, presumably from the doorway. It was tentative, scared even, and as familiar to Iris as those lips had been.

Linda.

Iris forgot how to breathe.

"Uh... guys, why don't we _all_ go and check in with the doctor, see when Iris will be let out," Patty said loudly, and by the sounds of it, forcibly dragged the boys out into the corridor. The door to Iris's room shut pointedly. Iris wasn't sure if Linda was actually here, or if she'd just hallucinated her - hey, she was on some mild painkillers, and she'd had a hell of an evening, okay. She still wasn't sure until something warm touched her hand, and then someone's fingers were folding between her own. They fit together kind of perfectly.

"How are you feeling?" Linda asked. If Iris had to guess, it sounded like she'd been crying.

"Why don't you tell me." Iris bit her lip, and her fingers tightened involuntarily around Linda's. "Linda - I - just, tell me the truth, okay? Are you... her? Are you Dr Light?" There was no reply, and Iris took a deep breath. "Or am I totally crazy? Because tonight, I was having the best time with you, and then you left, and then Dr Light showed up, and... your lips -"

"I didn't mean for it to go this far," Linda said quickly, desperately. There was a pounding in Iris's ears. Holy shit. She _was_ right. "I thought I could handle it - I thought I was doing something good. I never meant for anyone to get hurt - especially not you."

Iris pulled her hand out of Linda's grasp, and Linda didn't try to reclaim it. Iris couldn't decide if she wanted her to or not.

"People have got hurt, though," Iris said, remembering even as she said it that Dr Light actually _hadn't_ injured that many people. Just a couple of people with temporary blindness, and - hang on - "You literally stabbed some guy in the shoulder, if I recall correctly."

"He deserved it," Linda said, sudden strength infusing her voice again. "That dance club I destroyed? That was his playground - he's sexually assaulted countless women there, including my friend. He _deserved_ it."

"I just - Linda," Iris said. Her eyes were itching, and she rubbed at them. Still couldn't see a damn thing. "Why didn't you _tell_ me? I could've helped you!"

"I was scared, okay!" Linda said, and there was definitely a sob mixed in with her words. "You have no idea - getting these powers changed _everything_. I've got two loaded guns right here - I could literally kill someone! I didn't know what to do... I have to hide who I am now - wear gloves, pretend that everything's exactly the same as it's always been... except, it's not! What if I slip up? What if someone finds out?"

"Linda -" Iris breathed. Something wet dripped down her cheek.

"And then I was doing a report on how Gold City Bank had fined Carmichael Elementary school $5,000 for failing to pay the minimum amount on their loan last month. They've been struggling for funding as it is - and damn it, that was _my_ school, it's a good school - and I just thought, if I could do _one_ good thing with these powers, then maybe my life would be worth something now."

"Your life is worth something, Linda." Iris grasped at the hospital bed unseeingly, searching for Linda's hand again. "You didn't ask for these powers - but you do have to live with them. Just - please, let me help you. I _can_ help you. You just have to trust me."

Her fingers were only finding empty air, and it felt like Linda had gone completely still, silent. Maybe Iris had said the wrong thing, said too much, but it was all true - she was probably crazy, but she'd gotten to know Linda, and she knew that she was a good person. Someone worth fighting for.

And then, warm fingers slipped into hers again, and Iris couldn't be sure, because she couldn't fucking see, but it felt like Linda wasn't wearing any gloves.

"I do trust you, Iris," Linda said, closer than Iris had expected. Actually, was that Linda's breath tickling her cheek?

"Then... how do you feel about working with The Flash?" Iris murmured. She couldn't help smiling (even if it was wobbly) as Linda choked.

"...are you even being serious right now?" she asked, voice rising with each word. "Because, girl, The Flash is, like... _The Flash_."

Oh, Jesse Quick, and her father at S.T.A.R. Labs, were going to be _all over_ Linda and her powers.

"As long as you promise to stop stealing things," Iris said, trying her best to sound stern, but she had a feeling the smile on her face ruined the effect.

"...everything except your heart."

Iris would have slapped her own forehead if that wasn't so freaking cute.

"I'm still mad at you for _literally_ blinding me, in case you forgot."

"I _did_ make sure it was only temporary..." Linda said, her tone coaxing, but Iris could imagine her smirk perfectly.

"You owe me a lifetime worth of favours, just sayin'."

"Lucky I'm planning on sticking around for a lifetime, then," Linda mumbled, and then that smirk was pressing against Iris's smile, and Iris couldn't wait to see those damn purple lips again.

-end. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually my first F/F fic, which is absolutely crazy. I lowkey ship these two so hard tho xD Seriously, Flash writers, bring Linda back!!
> 
> You can say hi to me over at my [tumblr](https://brionyjae.tumblr.com/) :D xx


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